


Deck the Malls

by webofdreams89



Category: Batgirl (Comics), Batman (Comics), DCU (Comics)
Genre: Christmas Fluff, F/F, Fluff, Kissing, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 14:03:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5419787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/webofdreams89/pseuds/webofdreams89
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's the day before Christmas and Cassandra still hasn't bought Christmas gifts for her family.  She enlists Stephanie's help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Deck the Malls

**Author's Note:**

  * For [DustToDust](https://archiveofourown.org/users/DustToDust/gifts).



> Like with many comics fanfics, it kind of squints at canon because so much of it contradicts itself anyway. Steph is Batgirl, Cass is Black Bat, though it isn’t all that relevant. Also, there is minor violence that doesn't go into detail.
> 
> DustToDust, I hope you really enjoy this!!

Stephanie was cleaning out a semester’s worth of loose notes, receipts, and other scraps of paper from the bottom of her book bag when her phone rang. 

It had been difficult trying to find the time to do coursework with an endless string of cases.  Her classes were challenging, and though she enjoyed school, she was glad to have a little time off before the next semester began. 

Pushing the garbage aside, Stephanie leaned over for her phone, attempting to keep her balance and not fall off her bed.  It was a close call. 

A selfie of she and Cassandra filled the screen, batter splattered across both their faces and dripping from the ends of their hair as they smiled at the camera.  It was taken a few weeks ago when Steph attempted to teach her how to make waffles.  It was a normal day, a good day. 

Smiling and letting that familiar gush of happiness settle through her that always came when she thought about her girlfriend, Stephanie slid her finger across the screen and answered it.  “Hey you!”

The stop-start of Cass’ voice, followed by a small huff, tipped Stephanie off that something wasn’t quite right.  She frowned, brain filling with a dozen bizarre (and _likely_ , given their line of work) scenarios. 

“Cass, what’s wrong?”

“I…have a request,” Cassandra said after a moment’s pause.  Her voice slipped into that formal tone it took when she was feeling particularly unsure of herself. 

“Of course,” Stephanie said, sitting up straighter.  “Anything, babe.  You know that.”

“Yes,” Cass replied.  Steph could just picture her nodding to herself, trying to assure herself.  “I need your help.  Is it…okay if I come over?”

“Sure,” Stephanie said, standing up to quickly remove some of the clutter that had accumulated the last few days.  “Mom’s at the hospital, so the house will be quiet.  I can make us something to eat while you’re _en route_.”

Cassandra let out a deep breath.  “I’m already outside.”

“Oh!  Well, let me come get you.”  She slipped a pair of shoes on and headed down to the front door of her building.

Stephanie saw through the door that it was lightly snowing, Cass bundled up in a pea coat with a giant knobby scarf Steph made her last winter wrapped around her neck and lower face.  Holding the door open for her, Cass stepped inside. 

“You didn’t ask Alfred to drive you?” Steph asked, eyeing the way her boots were caked with snow. 

Cass shook her head, her hair dampening with melting snowflakes.  “I didn’t want anyone to know I’d left.  It’s…embarrassing.”

Worry flickered across Stephanie’s face, but she didn’t want Cass to see it.  So she grabbed her by the hand and led her to the elevator.  “We can talk upstairs, okay?”

\--

Stephanie pressed a quick kiss to Cassandra’s lips before she grabbed her coat to hang up.  Turning back to her girlfriend, she watched Cass kick off her snow boots and tried to keep her anxiety at bay.

“I can tell you’re worried,” Cass said, leaving her boots by the door and stepping closer to where Steph leaned against a living room chair.  “Please don’t worry.”  Cass reached forward and laced her fingers through Stephanie’s again, stepping close to her.

“You’re acting weird and I care about you.  How can I not worry?” Steph asked, the corner of her lips turned down. 

Cass threaded her fingers through Stephanie’s hair and palmed the back of her head.  She kissed Stephanie sweet and slow, and by the time she pulled back, Steph’s heart was pounding in her chest and she was breathing heavier.

“And now you’re distracting me with kisses.”  She tried to sound gruff, but it didn’t exactly work. 

“It stopped making you worry,” Cass pointed out, smiling.  “Like I said, it’s embarrassing why I need your help.”

Stephanie squeezed her hand a little, a reassurance, and said, “Tell me.”

“Okay,” she said, her face flushing.  It hadn’t been this red since Cass had tried, and failed, to confess her feelings to Steph nearly two years ago before Stephanie had taken pity on her and just kissed her. 

“Okay,” Cass said again.  “As you know, it’s Christmas Eve and tomorrow is Christmas.”

“That’s usually how that works,” Steph said before she could stop herself. 

Cass gave her a look that let Stephanie know her comment wasn’t funny.  “It’s just that…I, well, I haven’t gotten gifts for my family yet.  I’m terrible at picking presents out for them.”

“Oh!” Steph said, realization dawning on her.  “You need help shopping.  I can handle shopping.”

Smiling, Cassandra said, “That’s why I came to you.  This is the first year that everyone will be there and it will look a little suspicious if I buy everyone knife sets again.”

Steph laughed.  “You’re right about that.  Though that impromptu haircut Tim got from Damian last year was pretty funny and blackmail worthy. 

“So, we have Bruce, Tim, Dick, Jason, Alfred, and Barbara.”

“Don’t forget Damian,” Cass admonished.

“How could I?” Steph asked.  “Every time I see him, he likes to remind me how unworthy of you I am.”

“And yet you still got him a Christmas gift, didn’t you?” Cass asked, trying to hide her smile.

Rolling her eyes, Stephanie replied, “You know that I did.”

“I’d also like to get gifts for Selina and Detective Gordon.  Oh, and Kate and Maggie too.” 

Cass and Steph had been teaming up with Batwoman a lot in the last year, enough so that they’d even been on a few double dates with her and her girlfriend.  And technically speaking, she was Cass’ cousin, though Steph was a little unclear on the family tree.

They lapsed into a silence filled with a few more shared kisses, before Stephanie went to get ready. 

“We can hit up the mall,” she said, slipping into her coat.  “They’ll have something for everyone there.  Though I should warn you: it’s going to complete chaos.”

\--

“I thought you were kidding,” Cass said, breathing hard like they’d just got done running across a couple dozen rooftops.  They’d just escaped from Macy’s and were leaning against a wall to catch their breaths.  Cass had a small cut above her eyebrow from getting hit with a box of silverware and Steph was pretty sure her eye was going to bruise from an errant elbow at the checkout.  “You really _weren’t_ kidding.”

“I’m right more often than people ever give me credit for,” she said wryly.  “I usually avoid shopping on Christmas Eve if I can.”

Frowning, Cass said, “I’m sorry you couldn’t this year.”

Dropping her bag at her feet and slipping an arm around Cass, Stephanie said, “Hey, it’s much more fun this year because I get to spend it with you.”

Steph was just leaning forward for a quick kiss when she felt something hit her stomach, forcing her breath from her body and pushing her back into the wall.  A blur of a man grappled at her feet before he screamed, “You snooze, you lose!” and was gone. 

Cass was after him before Stephanie could even process what had happened.  Getting assaulted in public like that, she had to pretend that she wasn’t a fully trained vigilante that took worse hits several times a week.  But he’d caught her off guard, so she didn’t even have to pretend all that much.

The guy was face down on the ground with his arms behind his back, a small crowd gathering around him, before Stephanie even had her bearings.  Wheezing, she began walking toward Cass.  Security arrived by the time Steph made it, arguing with Cass to let the man go.

“This man assaulted my girlfriend and robbed us.  I’m not going to let go of him until he is in handcuffs,” she said. 

“I’m the assaulted girlfriend,” Stephanie said, stepping into their view.  “He punched me in the stomach and took off with our bag.”

Security looked baffled until one of the mall cops finally arrived.  “We’re terribly sorry Ms. Wayne,” he said, ignoring Stephanie completely.  That wasn’t unusual. 

After they retrieved their bag, the perp was hauled off, and they’d filed a report, Steph and Cass went back to shopping.

“Are you sure you don’t want to go home?  My family would understand,” Cass insisted for the third time.  They’d just got done waiting in line for the bathroom for nearly half an hour.

“I’m fine,” Steph said, shrugging.  In a quiet voice, she added, “You know how hard I normally get hit.”

Cassandra frowned like she didn’t want to agree.

“Besides,” Stephanie barreled on, “we already got Dick an outfit that won’t make anyone’s eyes bleed, Bruce a set of #1 Dad cufflinks, Selina a dress she’ll look banging in, Gordon that fountain pen, Alfred a new tea kettle, and Barbara those earrings.  We’re more than halfway done.”

“Okay,” Cass said, “but let me know if you start to feel worse.  And don’t lie.  I’ll be able to tell.”

“Yes mother.”

“Don’t ever call me that,” Cass said, looping her arm through Stephanie’s.  “It will make making out with you very uncomfortable.”

Grinning, she replied, “Yeah, we definitely don’t want that.”

Best Buy was their next stop.  They picked some super keyboard Tim had been lusting after for a while and the boxset of _Breaking Bad_ for Jason.  The blue haired girl that rang them out looked vaguely familiar to Stephanie. 

“We had class together!” she said when it finally came to her.

An unexpected smile spread across the girl’s face.  “We did,” she agreed.  “You were the girl that totally schooled Professor Hollins on the welfare system.”

“Well, I would have starved to death without it, so it’s a pretty important subject to me,” Steph said, giving a pleased shrug.

“I hear that,” the girl replied, taking her time bagging their purchases even as the guy behind them began to grumble about slow cashiers.

“What major are you?”

“Computer Engineering.  You?” the girl asked, raising an eyebrow. 

“Double in Psychology and Social Work,” Steph replied. 

“Cool,” the girl, Harper, said.  They chatted a few more minutes and discovered they were going to have a class together next semester too.  “We should hang out sometime.”

“That would be awesome!” Steph said.  It wasn’t often she made friends outside of vigilantism.  “Oh, and this is my girlfriend, Cassandra.”

The line grew more restless so they said their goodbyes.  “Be sure to thank your dad for my scholarship, Cassandra!” Harper yelled as they left.

Very seriously, Cass said, “I will.”

“She seems funny,” Cass said after they exited the store. 

“She does.  And from what I remember from class, very smart.  Opinionated, but definitely smart.”

Cass smiled.  “I’m glad to see you so happy.”

Stephanie grinned back.  “I am too.”  Bumping shoulders with Cass, she added, “You make me happy.”

\--

Their last stop was the bookstore, where they picked up a book of antique motorcycles for Kate, a book of some of the United States’ most ridiculous laws for Maggie, and a fancy set of colored pencils for Damian.

(“I got him a journal.  So he can write about how fat I am in it,” Steph said, laughing when Cass pulled a face.)

Stephanie’s mom was still at work when they made it back to the apartment, so Stephanie pulled out their bins of wrapping paper to help Cass wrap the gifts.  It probably took twice as long as it should have given the amount of time they goofed around, but Stephanie didn’t care.  She’d do anything to make Cass happy, to make her smile. 

They ordered a pizza and ate it with gusto, a movie playing the background that they barely paid attention to.  Stephanie cleared their plates and napkins and when she returned, they settled together on the couch to watch a holiday movie. 

Stephanie loved her life now, but it’s been a while since she’s felt this content.  Her relationship with her mom is better than it’s ever been, her dad is out of the picture, she’s in school pursuing her dream and she has great friends.  And best of all, there’s Cass. 

Reaching over her girlfriend, Steph opened the end table drawer and pulled out a gift wrapped in shiny purple paper.  “Merry Christmas,” she murmured, handing it to Cass.

“Stephanie,” Cass began, a small, happy smile taking over her face.

“Open it,” Steph urged, feeling a little embarrassed.  She always did when people opened gifts she gave them.

Cassandra shredded the paper, revealing a plain white box.  Carefully, she took the lid off and, with both hands trembling a little, pulled out a small gold music box.  “Wow,” she said, gasping and running her finger over it.  “It’s beautiful.”

She opened the music box and a small ballerina popped up, slowly pirouetting while music tinkled throughout the room. 

“She looks like me.”  Cass looked up at Steph before her eyes darted back down to the ballerina.  Her dark hair was pulled back into a bun and her pink tutu was faded with age.   

“That’s what I was going for,” Steph said.  “My grandma gave me that box when I was little, right before she died.  I came across it in some of my things that Mom held onto after I died.  I opened it and saw the ballerina and just knew that it was the perfect gift for you.  I had it cleaned and talked to this guy who painted it for me in period appropriate paints.”

Setting the music box aside, Cass crawled into Steph’s lap, kissing her hard.  “I love you,” she said between kisses.  “I love you so much.”

“I love you too,” Stephanie replied, feeling something nudge her hand.  She opened her eyes and saw a black necklace box.

“Open it,” Cass said, mocking the way Stephanie had said it only moments before.

Grinning, Steph opened the box.  Inside, on plush navy velvet, lay a silver necklace, the pendant shaped like a bat.  In the middle of the bat, in tiny script, it read: S + C.

“It’s so cute, Cass.  I love it!” Steph said, throwing her arms around Cass and kissing her again.  After a fair bit of making out, they finally went back to watching the movie.  At one point, a thought occurred to Steph.  “The necklace box was warm like it’s been on your person all day.  You’re tiny.  Where did you even hide that?”

“I’m a Bat,” Cass said with a smile.

“Fine, don’t tell me.  But just so you know, next Christmas, I’m introducing you to the joys of online shopping.”


End file.
